


never fell in love, i saved those feelings for you

by orosea



Series: summer lovin' [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M, also this is a reallllly old one i edited for this series, i married them in my first playthrough and thought they were cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2019-01-07 02:50:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12224220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orosea/pseuds/orosea
Summary: Sophie is still half concussed but that’s okay because she’s sure that she wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the warmth of the sun or Asugi anyway.It's summertime and Asugi can't take the heat.





	never fell in love, i saved those feelings for you

**Author's Note:**

> this is something i was working on back when i used fanfiction and figured it worked here as well. in my first birthright run i married them and they just had refreshingly lively supports.
> 
> (title is from 8teen by khalid)

Sophie stretches her arms, rolling out her sore shoulders despite what feels like hoofprints branding her back. Yesterday was a pain both mentally and physically, she figures, deep in thought around the campfire.

The day before, the team led by Saizo to retrieve supplies on the eastern side of Hoshido had been ambushed by a group of bandits looking to loot the train. The bandits certainly weren’t weak either, Sophie recollects, thumbing a bruise blooming on her collarbone.

  
“Hey there, Fumbles.” She jumps slightly at the familiar tenor. Asugi gives a relaxed upturn of his lips as he settles on the blanket next to her. “Impressive work yesterday,” He lays back on the spotted blanket, making eye contact for a split contact before reverting his gaze to the sky. “Saving the baggage train like that.”

  
Sophie feels her face warm at the praise. It wasn’t often someone complimented her for her battle prowess, considering her clumsiness, especially someone as gruff as Asugi. “Thanks!” She finds herself blurting with unnecessary enthusiasm and he grins at her, obviously amused.

Clearing her throat awkwardly Sophie turns away from him to avoid the oncoming embarrassment. “Those bandits sure gave us a run for our money.”  
Asugi lets out a snort at the abrupt subject change before sitting up and stretching his own arms, the campfire crackling in front of them.

He, like her, had traded his armor for the clothes he usually sleeps in. Sophie mentally notes how scarred his forearms are as her gaze moves along the expanse of muscled arms and usually covered neck, stripes of tender pink skin traveling along the length of his knuckles, all the way to his chin.

  
“Mhm,” He hums. “Trying to round up the horses afterward was worse, though. When they get scared like that no one can stop them.” He seems only mildly annoyed and Sophie can’t help but be a little jealous about how easygoing he sounds. “One even threw off my saddlebag full of candy, no discipline these days.” He grumbles throwing a hand behind his head, ruffling his violet hair and Sophie is torn between giggling or rolling her eyes.

  
“Yeah, it was awful. I felt like I was gonna get trampled.”

  
Asugi lets loose a chuckle and Sophie feels the pink seep back onto her face with vengeance at the almost affectionate sound. She resorts to staring at the flames of the fire as his mirth fades.

“Trampled to death is a little dramatic isn’t it?” He reasons and Sophie wishes he didn’t think this was so comical, considering that she was almost literally hooved to death. “With a mount like Avel you should be a master at dodging them. He’s like 10 of them in one.”

‘Should’ being the key word here. If any horse was to kill her, it would be Avel. She glances at Asugi, his white teeth flashing as he quirks up his lips. “Besides, it was good exercise.” Sophie frowns and conceals it very poorly when she catches Asugi’s raised eyebrow.

“I-I guess.” She pokes a rock with her shoe, not wanting to indicate her discomfort at the almost backhanded compliment but also strangely flattered that someone even thought she was vaguely cool.

“Huh?” Asugi cranes his neck to get a glance at her quite obvious pout. “Something wrong?”

“Well,” Sophie draws out, still toeing the ground in front of her awkwardly. “It’s just,” It’s almost humiliating to say out loud, she nearly makes a break for it, to get some reprieve and retire to her tent but Asugi’s stare is drilling holes into her. “You’re always so relaxed about stuff like this. I always end up panicking.”

Asugi hums in acknowledgment. “Even now, I’m still pretty shaken up by the whole thing. Maybe I’m just jealous.” She finishes, syllables strung together gawkily.

Asugi lets out a puff of amused air. If she wasn’t so mortified at his response she would probably think it was cute. “Gee, thanks, Fumbles.” Sophie can’t help but rolls her eyes at the cheap nickname. “There’s really no need for all that though.” Asugi continues as he lifts himself off the blanket and dusts his pants off. “You were the one who saved the baggage train, not me.”

Oh yeah, she did, didn’t she? The reminder incites her face to flush again despite her mind’s refusal for any more embarrassment. It was always hard to receive praise from anyone but her father, but with Asugi it’s almost like having the sun blaring directly in her eyes and she has to look away.

Sophie gives Asugi a small, weak smile and before she can open her mouth to protest, he interrupts. “Anyway, I heard there was sugarcane growing around here.” She doesn’t know if it was her imagination but he sounded sort of. . . nervous? As impossible as it sounds for Asugi to be shaken or jittery, he seems to be both right now.

It gives her a strange sense of fluttering in her stomach that Sophie wishes she had Avel-sized hooves to stamp out. He sends her a twitchy grin before jogging off, leaving the Sophie dazed and flustered and confused.

The summer heat is sticky and uncomfortable at most but Asugi bolts like he's been scorched.

* * *

Sophie can honestly say she didn’t mean to blow up the kitchen. What she can’t say though, is that she didn’t blow up the kitchen. And that in itself is issue one. Letting out a particularly whiny exhale of air, she sinks to the floor with a groan, covered in flour and cringing when she hears eggshells squelch underneath her.

“How could this happen?” Sophie was completely aware of how incriminating the scene was when Asugi poked his head through the door and she happened to be talking to herself.

“What was that? Is my peach cobbler alright?”

Sophie from the middle of the pile of cracked eggs and baking soda, squeaks. “Probably not.”  
Asugi pinches the bridge of his nose and Sophie feels familiar sheepishness bubble up inside her chest.

“Wait, did a bomb go off in here or something?” Sophie’s face flames at the insinuation and she sort of wants to be the hole in the ceiling rather than being the one who made it.

“I was,” Sophie pauses, pushing cakey chunks of dark brown hair from her eyes and blinking residue out of her eyelashes. “Baking something.” She trails off towards the end fraily, averting her eyes from him to the crater in the ceiling.

“How did you ‘bake’ a hole into the ceiling?” Though her eyes are on the predicament itself, she doesn’t miss the finger quotes he makes around the word ‘bake’ as he carefully steps over brown sludge that was supposed to be chocolate cake.

“Well,” She trails, rolling her tongue over the word carefully. She doesn’t want to make a fool of herself any more than she already has. “I wish I knew. I was just trying to make a new recipe because it’s my mom’s birthday soon and she always makes the best pastries. I just wanted to do something for her too.” Sophie deflates slightly, picking at a patch of dried batter on her apron. She just wishes that she could make something as tasteful as what mom gives her every year.

“New recipe huh?” Asugi reaches a hand out to help her up and Sophie takes it gratefully, but not quite gracefully, fumbling with his callused hand and almost yanking him down instead. “Mozu is one of the best cooks in the whole army, I’m sure she would have loved that you even tried.” Sophie gives a big smile at the mention if her mother, indulging in a glance towards Asugi who looks surprised by her change in demeanor.

“B-besides,” He continues, ripping his gaze from her back to the ceiling. “You’re not worse than my mom at least.” Sophie crinkles her nose in disgust at the memory of Orochi’s cooking. He’s right. At least her chocolate cake didn’t wiggle and move like it was alive. She snorts and Asugi gives a proud smirk. “We should get to fixing this.”  
The thought of Asugi cleaning up the mess she made makes her stutter. “You really don’t ha-“

He interrupts with a hand waving in her face. “I insist, I’ve got experience repairing things and you need to clean up.” His eyes trail over her and Sophie reddens, splotchy and itchy, as she realizes how she must look. “As charming as this is.” He laughs gently and Sophie cradles her head in her hands, sighing at the realization flour is still clinging to her cheeks.

“I look like a mess don’t I?”

“Slightly.” There’s a quality in his voice that doesn’t leave Sophie abashed in the slightest.

* * *

 A child! He had said she acted like a child. Her face flushes, rubescent and livid. It’s a strange mixture of emotion that stirs within her, something hot and messy like indignation but also cold like disappointment.

“That’s really what you think of me?” Her words come out more hurt than she intends and she doesn’t miss the way Asugi flails at her tone, nearly falling off his own horse. Avel neighs softly, just as disgruntled.

“N-no, I swear,” Asugi puts a hand over his heart. “I just mean that you panic a lot. Like a…” He doesn’t say it but Sophie rolls her eyes, adjusting the side of her breastplate so that it doesn’t dig roughly into her side.

“Well at least I take things seriously at all.” She replies snippily and Asugi’s horse freezes at the same time as him. As soon as the sentence escapes her lips, she feels guilt wash over her. A low blow, even by Asugi’s standards.

“I’m sorry.” She stutters out and somewhere in the back of her mind she blankly realizes that if she was truly angry about being called a kid, then she wouldn’t feel the crushing weight of her own statement’s guilt.

Asugi’s mouth is set in a stern line as he flicks the reins on his horse, trotting ahead of her. “I suppose I deserved it.” He leaves her with that, rejoining the rest of the squadron on the rocky path ahead of them.

Based on the way her heart squeezes harshly in her chest, Sophie realizes much too late that maybe the reason she likes Asugi’s smile so much means a little more than she thought.

* * *

 

“Heyheyhey,” She hears it in rapid succession, a pair of sandals sliding down the hill beside, dusting her with dirt and pebbles. “Sophie?” A strong grip hooks under her arms, lifting her carefully so not to jostle her strangely bent leg. “Are you okay?”

“Asugi!” It’s groggy and loud enough to make Sophie think she hit her head when she fell off Avel but the arms around her tighten momentarily. Wetness pricks the corner of her eyes and in an uncharacteristically tender manner, Asugi softly lets his chin rest on her head.

“Hey, it’s okay.” He murmurs, lips brushing her sweaty temple and if Sophie was in her right mind she would think it was loving. “Remember the last time this happened? You just charged and cut them all down. I bet it would’ve worked this time.”

“That’s the problem!” Her tongue feels swollen and much too hard to talk with. “It wasn’t like last time. I was so upset I couldn’t focus. What do I do then?” Sophie doesn’t feel like she wants to cry but the way Asugi tenses behind makes her feel like she already is.

“I don’t know,” His breath fans over her hair. “But we won’t let you get cut off again. Consider me your official partner.” She wants to laugh, just twist her body around, bury her face in his collarbones and giggle incredulously.

“Who knew you were such a romantic?” She teases, pleased at the way his breath hitches nervously.

“It’s not like that-”

“I’m kidding, Asugi.” She leans back into his chest, wincing as she shifts her leg to a more natural position. “It means a lot to me. Maybe even more than that.” She means to edit that last part out. Maybe her concussion is more serious than she thought.

“Maybe?” His voice holds a smug lilt, like he had won a game of cat and mouse. Definitely not like he was bumbling mess that thought she was going to die from a broken leg and concussion.

“Okay, I’m possibly infatuated.” She admits easily and shrugs, or at least tries to before she flinches at the pull of her strained muscles. “You’d never really know unless you took me out.”

She doesn’t need to see his face to know he’s grinning. “I think I can do that.”

They don’t even have the shame to look embarrassed when the squadron finds them, still intertwined with a leg bent at a nearly right angle. She thinks that she hears some soldier gag at the sight but she can’t really tell because everything is blending together now, in a haze of yellow spots and vertigo.

Sophie is still half concussed but that’s okay because she’s sure she wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the warmth of the sun or Asugi anyway.

 


End file.
